Dr. Prem Lal Gautam
Chancellor

Born on 12th December 1947, Dr. Prem Lal Gautam is an Agricultural graduate from Agricultural College Solan (HP) and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Genetics from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.
Services Rendered: He joined his service career as Assistant Professor Plant Breeding at GB Pant University on 16 Sept 1974. He has also served as Associate Professor Plant Breeding, Associate Director CRC, and Joint Director/Associate Dean Hill Campus Ranichauri of this University. He occupied important positions in the country, namely, Chairperson, Protection of Plant Varieties & Framers’ Rights Authority New Delhi (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Govt. of India) and Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority, Chennai (Ministry of Forests, Environment & Climate Change, Govt. of India) in the rank of Secretary to the Govt of India; Vice Chancellor GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, Uttrakhand; Deputy Director General ICAR-Crop Science; National Director ICAR-NATP Project; Director, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources; Dean, College of Forestry, YS Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan (HP); Managing Director, Uttarakhand Seeds & Tarai Development Corporation Pantnagar Uttrakhand; and Vice Chancellor of Career Point University Hamirpur HP. Presently, he is the Honorary Pro-Chancellor of Career Point University Hamirpur HP, Chairman Advisory Committee Patanjali University Hardwar, Advisor Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradoon, Chairman of Shivshakti School Nihari, Ghumarwin, Bilaspur HP and Chief Patron of Society for community mobilization for sustainable development.
Contributions: He is a distinguished geneticist and plant breeder associated with the development of twelve improved crop varieties of wheat, foxtail millet, soybean, ricebean, amaranth and buckwheat. He has played important role in redefining basmati rice in the light of new breeding tools in protecting national interests .Under his leadership, the first post graduate progrmme in Plant Genetic Resources in India was implemented at NBPGR-IARI He initiated the registration of plant germplasm in India and was associated with the drafting and implementation of Biological Diversity and Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers Rights Acts of India. He has contributed significantly to the conservation and management of Plant Genetic Resources including inter alia, mounting special explorations under the aegis of ICAR-NATP national missions on agro biodiversity management and food & nutritional security.
Member of Delegations: As a member of Indian delegations for negotiations/meetings of International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) of FAO and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of United Nations Organization, he has played important role in reflecting Indian position in the negotiations. He was one of the champions for inclusion of Famers’Rights in the ITPGRFA and the moratorium on the terminator gene in Cartagena Biosafety Protocol. He Co-Chaired, 5th Session of FAO-ITPGRFA and served as a nominated member from the Asian Region to the Executive Board of Global Crop Diversity Trust, Germany, for five years. He has served as Expert consultant of FAO- ITPGRFA Mission on Plant Genetic Resources to Mongolia and the USAID-CISA/STRASA Project of the International Rice Research Institute. He was a member of Board (Indian side) of Joint Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture.
Committee Assignments: He has served with distinction as Chair/Member in different committees of ICAR, CSIR, DBT, DST, ASRB, UPSC, FICCI, ICFRE, FSSAI, Ministries, Universities,etc He was Chairman of the committees for restructuring of ICAR- AICRPs, ICFRE, National & State Seed Corporations and strengthening of IARI as a global University. He has also Chaired Research Advisory Committees of many ICAR institutes and served as member of Board of management of seven Universities. Presently, he is member of University Council of SKUAST Jammu & external advisory panel of ICAR-NAHEP and Chairman of Research Advisory Committee (Agriculture) of National Innovation Foundation Ahmadabad.
Recognitions and Awards: In a career spanning over 47 years, he has made outstanding contributions. He has widely travelled in India and over two dozen countries and has left amazing footprints on the positions held in different systems and organizations. During his tenure as Director and Vice Chancellor, NBPGR and GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, respectively, received ICAR’s Best Institution Awards. He has been conferred the fellowships of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding (ISGPB), Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources (ISPGR), National Academy of Biological Sciences and International Society for Noni Science. He has been conferred Honorary Fellowship of Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences 2022 and Honorary Fellow 2023 of ISPGR .He was President of ISGPB & ISPGR; Vice President of NAAS & Trust for Advancement Agricultural Sciences; and Life Member National Environmental Science Academy. The sterling contributions of Dr Gautam have been verily recognized by conferring Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial & Punjab University Chandigarh Medals and Life Time Achievement Awards from Agriculture Today and Mobilization Society. He has also received Harbhajan Singh Memorial /Canadian Research Associateship/ Service to Humanity/Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini /Dr.S Radhakrishnan Education Excellence and Eminent Citizen of India awards from different organizations.
He has received honoris causa Doctorate of Science degree by ND University of Agriculture and Technology Faizabad (UP) & SKUAST Jammu for his noteworthy contributions as an institution builder, teacher, researcher, guide and research manager and a plaque of Honour by ISGPB for dedicated services and certificate of recognition for contribution in development of landmark wheat variety.